Trucker dies in fiery Highway 401 wreck

Tow trucks get ready to pull a tractor trailer (part of white cab of truck behind tow truck in center) out of a rock cut on Highway 401, east of Mallorytown, after a fiery crash on Sep. 3, 2015. The early morning crash killed the lone driver. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)

MALLORYTOWN – A truck driver has died in an early morning crash on Highway 401, just east of Mallorytown.

Leeds County O.P.P. say, for some reason, the truck left the eastbound lanes around 4 a.m., went through the grass median and crashed through a metal barrier.

The truck then struck a rock cut, exploding on impact, said police.

The lone male driver was able to get out of the rig, which was in a gully next to the rock face, and was also helped to the roadside by a bystander.

However, the trucker from Toronto succumbed to his injuries at hospital in Brockville.

His name has not been released.

Both lanes of the highway were closed for most of the morning before the eastbound lanes opened up to traffic around 8 a.m.

The westbound lanes were reported open around 10 a.m., according to a tweet from the O.P.P. Communications Center.

However, around 12:30 p.m., traffic was still backed up in the westbound lanes from the County Road 2 interchange near the 1000 Islands Parkway all the way to Stewart Boulevard in Brockville.